This is the fourth year of the program, and the Fish Tank, along with the trade show, set for noon to 3 p.m. on Sunday, May 1 at the Ink House, are the two biggest events of the year.

Fish Tank is the program’s local business pitch competition. Students have been crafting their individual business ventures all year and are getting ready to launch.

All 20 students gave a three-minute pitch followed by a two-minute Q & A session. Winners were announced at the end of the event.

“There is so much creativity and the fact they can juggle this business venture on top of their senior year and extracurriculars is stellar,” said Hannah Allison, who is the program director for Edwardsville CEO.

“For the last month, they have created these pitches and pitched them to family members and friends to get a critique and make them even better. They wanted to bring their ‘A’ game today and I thought they really did that.”

The CEO class meets five days a week for 90 minutes a day and is a year-long, two-credit high school course. Students also receive four hours of college credit through Southwestern Illinois College.

The Edwardsville CEO class is divided into two distinct portions. During the fall semester, the students work together to create their class business endeavors.

For the spring semester, the students are responsible for coming up with an individual business endeavor and launching it by the trade show in May.

“Fish Tank is the last step before our trade show and the students will be more than ready to talk to dozens of community members. They will get to showcase and sell their products,” said Allison, who noted that this year’s class includes 10 seniors from EHS, seven from FMCHS and three from MELHS.

“I tell the students that today is almost harder than the trade show because they’re up on stage by themselves. At the trade show, the students can interact with the community and have a little more fun, and they can start making some money, which is really cool to see.”

The first prize at Tuesday’s Fish Tank, worth $300, went to EHS senior Michael Wise for “Mi-Disc,” which is a frisbee golf company that offers custom discs. Every order is custom designed by the customer and then dyed by Wise.

The business was created to bring art and disc golf together to provide unique gifts or to have a disc that looks different from everyone else’s on the course. For more information, go to @midisc.customfrisbees on Instagram or Facebook.

“I’m customizing and dying old disc golf discs. I wanted something fun that anyone can use, and that’s what helped me come up with the idea. I love playing disc golf,” Wise said.

“I’ve had several different customers and they love how I customize it. They can do whatever they like with the disc.”

On Thursday, Wise was unsure how he would spend the prize money.

“I think I’ll do some more advertising with it and put it toward college,” Wise said. “I’m currently advertising through social media and at the trade show I’ll have everything set up.”

Wise plans to attend the University of Iowa, where he will major in business. His entrepreneurial work with Edwardsville CEO is giving him valuable professional experience.

“I will hopefully own my own business one day and I did this program because I wanted to get that business experience and learn how the real world works,” Wise said. “This has helped to identify how to go about starting a business.”

The second-place prize, worth $200, went to Ellie Hyten, a senior at Father McGivney, for “2Fresh,” which offers on-the-go hygiene kits.

The third-place prize, worth $100, was awarded to FMCHS senior Macy Smith for “Hello From Home,” which was created to give families and friends of college students the opportunity to send them customized care packages. 

This year’s judging panel included:
•    Bonni Burns – CEO of BAM Marketing 
•    Steve Cooper – Senior Vice President of First Mid Bank & Trust
•    Timothy S. Schoenecker, Ph.D. – Dean of SIUE School of Business
•    Jay Beard – Owner of Recess Brewing/Boulder Holdings, LLC
•    Jennifer Hughey – CEO of Goshen Coffee

“Equally important to picking the judges is picking the right judging panel,” Allison said. “Year after year, these judges come back and bring their set of expertise to the questions they ask. They make the students feel like they’re doing something special, and you can’t put a price tag on that.”

Kristen Pfund, meanwhile, is co-owner of the Ink House and co-owner of Pfund Construction. She is also an Edwardsville CEO board member and is constantly impressed by the high school seniors who are part of the program.

“It’s fantastic to see how much creativity each one of these students have and the passion they have for the ideas and products they have created on their own,” Pfund said. “It’s neat to be able to see them present that so professionally and it’s very inspiring as an entrepreneur to be able to watch them.”

Pfund is equally impressed by the variety of products that the students create.

“There really hasn’t been any repeat idea – the kids really nailed it this year. I can see a lot of these ideas carrying forward and being a business for them,” Pfund said.

Like the Edwardsville CEO students, Pfund is looking forward to the trade show on May 1.

“At the Fish Tank, a lot of the kids don’t necessarily have their prototypes ready, but when you come here (to the Ink House) and you’re one of the first people to see them set up for the trade show, it’s pretty impressive,” Pfund said.

“It’s neat to see how hard they work and how proud they are of everything they have accomplished. They want to show everybody what they have done, and you want to buy their products.”

Allison saluted the local business community for its efforts in making the Edwardsville CEO program a success.

“I can’t thank our community enough for providing us with supplies and funding,” Allison said. “All of the people that you see here today – our judges and our board members – we wouldn’t have Edwardsville CEO without them and the support of the Edwardsville-Glen Carbon area.”

For more information about Edwardsville CEO, the Fish Tank or the trade show, or to read more about students’ individual businesses, go to https://www.edwardsvilleceo.com/ or visit the Edwardsville CEO Facebook page. You can also reach out to Hannah Allison at [email protected].